Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 339: The Two Strangers

"Yes, during your last visit to Coldwater Port City, you had a chance encounter with Princess Lecia. It’s just that you didn’t see her, but she saw you,"

Miss Luisa nodded:

"She then had someone investigate all the inns in the vicinity, combed through the guest information, and finally found three potential places to stay, which she had watched constantly. Until yesterday when you were going to Coldwater Port again, I mentioned it to her, and sure enough, she found you. Princess Lecia has abundant resources at her disposal; catching you...meeting you is not a matter of luck, but a matter of time."

"Then why did she meet with me using a false identity?"

This was Shard’s most puzzling point:

"Yesterday, I really thought she was a local Correspondence Circle Mage."

The blonde girl smiled:

"The one who keeps touching her ears is her. The ruby earrings she wears are a Sage-Level Relic called ’Saint’s Uncursing Stone,’ a gift from her teacher when she enrolled. That relic has severe negative traits, and its holder must touch the relic every half-hour when they’re conscious, or else the suppressed curse will be released... Fortunately, on the morning of our initial exchange, she hadn’t yet remembered to get dressed and I went out... As a result, Lecia developed this small habit, which is hard to break, even using my body, she would still subconsciously perform that action. Based on this, you will realize that Lecia meeting you through my body actually only happened a few times."

She seemed to think of something and blushed a little:

"I trust you very much, and Princess Lecia is willing to trust you as well, but she wanted to be certain of what kind of person you really are. When you encountered her soul and her body, how would you behave, hence the incident yesterday."

"So Her Highness the Princess..."

"Don’t call me that."

"Then after yesterday’s adventure, how does Princess Lecia see me?"

Shard was quite curious since his performance had been properly normal yesterday; he hadn’t exhibited any particular strengths or personal charm, but he believed he should generally be considered a "good person."

"She thinks you’re quite good… Oh, it makes me angry just to talk about it, yesterday she refused to switch with me for most of the day you two spent together. In fact, I only found out this morning what you encountered yesterday."

This was the reason she seemed a bit displeased when she first walked in.

"Meow~"

Miss Luisa was a bit too excited, enough to scare Mia. Even after spending the whole day with Miss Luisa, the cat still hadn’t shown much affection for her.

Shard quickly reached out to pet its little head to soothe it.

"Shard, thank you for saving her yesterday. I heard from Lecia, had you not been there, she might not have made it out. That ship blocked our connection, and I felt nothing when you were in danger."

"Is thanks necessary?"

Shard shook his head:

"Do you know the severity of the Mermaid’s Curse on her?"

"Of course, I do, but no need to worry. The information you obtained on the pirate ship is important, but even without that, Princess Lecia is a Circle Mage who formally studied at the Zaras Literary Academy under a collaboration between the Royal Family and the Academy. Even if she has switched to correspondence study now, if it can’t be resolved, Lecia could still seek help from Zaras Literary Academy."

Only then did Shard feel reassured, and Miss Luisa brought out a piece of paper:

"Before I came to see you this morning, we had a brief exchange," he said, "She only left this for me to give to you, not saying much about yesterday’s detailed experience."

The letter was in Princess Lecia’s handwriting, explaining the events that happened after Shard left early this morning.

First was the cruise ship; the Church and the Draleon Navy took control of it, brought the ship back to Coldwater Port along with the bodies on board, those mad and half-mad who were cursed by the ’Song of the Mermaid,’ and the pirates who had perished at sea last night, according to the ship captain’s agreement, accounting for one-third of all the common people on board.

The Church was overjoyed, as there has never been such a high survival rate in similar events, although those who lived were cursed and mostly mentally disturbed, it was still considered a miracle.

Although the time was short, Princess Lecia nonetheless gleaned some information. None of the Circle Sorcerers who jumped into the sea were found by the Church, which barely pieced together the cause and effect of the events from those mentally traumatized, and learned of the auction and the "Fishbone Pirate Ship."

Even the unusual snowfall after the resolution of the incident led the Coldwater Port Church to entertain further speculations. But so far, there is no evidence to substantiate such magic conjectures.

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Afterward, Princess Lecia arranged for her people to inform the Church in full detail as witnesses to the event. She thoroughly explained the connection between the Sea Return ceremony and the ’Song of the Mermaid,’ the Sage-Level Relic and ’Fishbone Pirate Ship,’ and even divulged its connection to the Evil God ’Lord of the Crimson Spiral,’ thus passing the coming conspiracy on for the Church to handle.

Her Highness the Princess assured Shard that he need not worry about the situation in Coldwater Port, as a member of the Cavendish Family, she would of course protect her Kingdom. Moreover, following the second Godfall event during the summer night in Tobesk, the Church of the Five Gods spared no effort in investigating the active cults across the Old Continent, and that so-called ritual would definitely not succeed.

"I’ll be going to Coldwater Port City on Wednesday to discuss the curse with her, I am very concerned about the ’Sea Return’ ceremony."

"Princess Lecia would welcome you to visit her... so what do you think of Princess Lecia?"

As Shard returned the diary to the blonde girl, she seized the moment to ask, measuring Shard with her emerald-green eyes that closely resembled the princess’s.

"She feels... very beautiful."

Miss Luisa raised her eyebrows:

"What else?"

"She’s very companionable, easy to get along with, and quite enthusiastic. It’s strange now that I think about it, I and Princess Lecia, are rather like familiar strangers."

Miss Luisa was pleased with his answer, correcting with a smile:

"You will become friends with her, Lecia and I share the same opinion of you. I was planning to have her teach you together with me once she returned to Tobesk, but it seems we’ll have to wait a while longer. Very good, Shard, get to know Princess Lecia as soon as possible. In my opinion, it’s better for you to use Princess Lecia’s influence to rightfully enter the upper echelons rather than hanging around in Tobesk relying on Galina."

Seeing that Shard wanted to say something more, Miss Luisa shook her head:

"I don’t object to your closeness with Galina; I just want to remind you that the woman might have mental issues."

Saying this, the blonde girl stood up to say goodbye, and Shard rose as well.

"In Coldwater Port, you can spend more time with Princess Lecia, she’s been quite bored lately."

Shard suddenly remembered that he had something else to say:

"Please wait a moment, I bought a very nice souvenir from Coldwater Port City this time. No, it’s not free fish this time."

Miss Luisa was amused by his words, and Shard quickly stepped forward, taking the seashell bracelet in the box from the desk:

"It’s not worth much, just a token of my gratitude for your Saturday lessons."

Miss Luisa took the box, glanced inside, and hesitated before saying:

"Next time you want to give me a gift, it’d be better if you picked it out yourself."

She said as she fastened the bracelet onto her wrist.

Shard watched her, puzzled, and after a moment, he nodded slowly, guessing that Miss Luisa wasn’t satisfied with the Princess Lecia’s taste.

"Oh, I have another request. Could I see more of your diaries? They’re truly more interesting than knight novels and court novels."

Shard asked again, genuinely intrigued. But the blonde female writer pursed her lips, her green eyes looking at him while her lips quivered:

"You can ask Lecia, my diary only contains these."

The Outlander realized as soon as he had spoken that his request was somewhat impolite and smiled sheepishly:

"Alright then, when the Princess returns, we can meet here together. Please make sure to tell me your stories then."

The blonde female writer had initially pushed the door open to go downstairs, but on hearing Shard’s words, her movement abruptly paused.

She stopped there and then turned around. The morning sun shone into the room, illuminating her face, which seemed to have a hint of irregularity. She had been smiling, but now she seemed somewhat sad:

"Those lunch boxes, clean them and give them back to me on Saturday."

"Okay."

It wasn’t the lunch boxes that made her sad.

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"And, call me by my name from now on. Don’t call me Miss Luisa anymore."

Shard nodded again:

"Okay... Dorothy."

He still didn’t understand, but Dorothy explained as she bit her lip:

"I would love to meet here with you and her, but Shard, it’s not possible."

"Why not?"

"Because... although our souls are connected and our powers can even communicate to a limited extent, we can’t get close to each other or gaze upon each other. If we do, the soul-shattering pain occurs."

"What?"

Shard’s mouth hung open in astonishment.

That’s why Saint Byrons couldn’t uncover the relationship between Dorothy Luisa and the Royal Family. She had never formally met the Princess.

"Yes, we have the closest connection, but we also have an insurmountable barrier that prevents us from ever meeting."

Her sadness became harder to control, and Dorothy forced a strained smile on her face:

"This must be some sort of dark humor, right? Two people so closely linked, able to use each other’s bodies, but no matter how much they long for it, they can never see each other with their own eyes... which is why I really hate tragedies."

"This..."

"Don’t comfort me, I’ve already accepted this fact. It’s just not being able to meet. Writing letters using each other’s bodies is fun too. Shard, I have to go back to writing my draft, the detective story is serializing next week. I’m really looking forward to you providing more material for it. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Dorothy."

She didn’t let Shard escort her downstairs but left all alone. Standing by the couch, Shard listened as her footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs, then the opening and closing of the door, feeling a sudden sense of loss:

"Two souls closest to each other, never to meet..."

He couldn’t find words to describe it.

"Meow~"

The cat lying on the couch mewed softly and then closed its eyes. It hadn’t slept well all night in the unfamiliar environment. Now back in its home, Mia was ready to sleep.

After all, no matter what happened, as long as Shard was there, it didn’t matter to the cat.

Looking out of the living room window, Shard saw Dorothy leaving Saint Delan Square, and he sighed.

By now, he had uncovered another secret of his fellow Circle Sorcerer. It seems among the five of them, almost all of their "other selves" likely had problems.

But at least now he was certain that Dorothy was not the "academic spy" the Academy suspected. While the Academy’s suspicions had some merit—she indeed had connections with the Draleon Royal Family, and thus with the students of Zaras Literary Academy—the connection was not deliberate, and Dorothy was not stealing knowledge from the Academy.

Unfortunately, Miss Writer regarded her secret connection with Princess Lecia as their deepest secret and did not wish anyone other than Shard to know. Otherwise, Shard could help clear this matter with the Academy for her.

In fact, concerning Dorothy’s secret, Shard had guessed most of it after returning from Coldwater Port City the previous night. What worried him most at the time was that the exchange between Dorothy and the Princess was not only a spatial swap of souls but also a temporal exchange that might bring down meteors and such…

But now it appeared that all these were unnecessary worries. And compared to the Evil God, meteors were not a threat to the world at all. The Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers might not have much advantage over deities compared to ordinary people, but they would find it easy to deal with meteors.

As for the findings at Coldwater Port City the previous day, it wasn’t just the secrets of Dorothy and Lecia, nor was it the wealth found in Lemer’s safe house, but rather the Magic Potion "Merman’s Elixir of Immortality" and that bag of coins.

Seeing Mia lying asleep on the couch, Shard slipped into his slippers and headed to the hidden wall in the basement.

The Magic Potion "Elixir of Immortality" was won in a bet with the captain, and Shard was not entirely sure of its effects, so he planned to ask someone about it.

The bag of coins was immediately thrown into God’s Gift Box for containment as soon as Shard got back to Saint Delan Square.

He knew there were ten coins inside but hadn’t even dared to look to see what they were. Based on knowledge from Diviner Annette, coin-type Relics typically carry curses, so it was best to keep them in a containment utility.

He planned to write to Annette, asking her to come over tonight to perform Divination with these coins. It was better to use these dangerous items as soon as possible; keeping them in the basement felt like placing a Steam Bomb under the house.

"Oh, I almost forgot this."

Shard reached into his pocket and pulled out the Poet-Level Relic "Universal Currency", then tossed it into God’s Gift Box as well. He had won it in a card game with Mr. Daknis, and excluding the one Blood Coin needed to detect other Blood Coins, Shard now had eleven coins to use.

Even if his luck were the worst, these coins should be enough to find the missing parts of the God Summoning Ritual to contact the Blazar Gate.